Bucharest on your doorstep: the Instagram account showing the parade of urban life in the Romanian capital
Image: @tiina_mc
20 January 2021
Text:
Paula Erizanu
See the true, multifaceted character of Romania’s chaotic and buzzing capital through the eyes of the people living in it, via Instagram account @bucurestirealist.
The founders of the account, amateur photographers @raidenbucharest and @florin.gif, came up with the idea for @bucurestirealist during the Christmas period of 2012, when they realised the contrast between the Bucharest they saw on the streets, and the ornate and glamorously lit city presented by the local authorities as well as on social media and in the press. “We are preoccupied with the fate of Bucharest, and we want it to be seen in its entirety, with its good and bad aspects, since most of its residents have a love-hate relationship with the city,” the curators told The Calvert Journal.
Thanks to crowdsourced photos, followers are able to get a taste of Bucharest’s eclectic architecture, ranging from its rich yet neglected modernist heritage, its turn-of-century villas, as well as the socialist tower blocks and post-communist skyscrapers.
True to their mission, @bucurestirealist does not shy away from showing the poverty too many of its residents experience that brushes up against the city’s more middle-class residential areas and luxurious central avenues.
